Week in Photos

Children carry food at a compound for displaced people in western Baghdad, Iraq. Officials say more than 1.3 million Iraqis remain homeless after being forced to flee six years ago during widespread sectarian violence that threatened their lives.

AP

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes a position as the Syrian Army advances towards the town of Sarmin, north of Syria. European Union foreign ministers said they were increasingly appalled by the Syrian government’s ruthless campaign of repression against civilians, and imposed new sanctions in hopes of pressuring the regime to change course.

AP

People sit outside a house as they wait for Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to Koluama 2 village, in Nigeria.

AP

Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis.

AP

Mary Bolognino, a supporter of the Occupy Boise movement, washes dishes at the encampment across the street from the Idaho Capitol in Idaho.

Karim Mukhamadeev of Irkutsk, Russia, works on a slide at the Ice Alaska Ice Park in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ice artists and volunteers are working hard to be ready for the park to open.

AP

Work continues on the eastern span of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, in San Francisco Bay. The seismic retrofit work on the Bay Bridge is being performed through a series of complex projects, including the East Span is being entirely replaced. The estimated date opening the new bridge to traffic in both directions is 2013.

Chinese paramilitary police, wearing their hats up side down, undergo a drill to prepare for the upcoming National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing. China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, is set to open its annual session on March 5.

AFP/Getty Images

An Indian child sits on metal rods outside her home in a slum area in Mumbai, India.

AP Photo

A cyclist is arrested during an Occupy Wall Street march towards midtown’s Bryant Park in New York. There was a heavy police presence around the 42nd Street area as the demonstration began Wednesday morning.

AP Photo

A large black pall of smoke rises from a barricade on the A32 highway between Turin and Bardonecchia at Chianocco, Turin, Italy, as activists of the No Tav movement continues their protest. The activists are demonstrating against plans to build a new track for highspeed trains (TAV) from Lyon, France, to Turin cutting through the Susa Valley (Valle di Susa) while an existing railway between the cities is not fully used to capacity.

EPA

A man crouches on a snow-covered walkway outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Snow fall overnight covers the Metro area, causing delay of public transportation.

AP

People search for victims after an avalanche near Col de la Croix mountain, Swiss Alps, near Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

AP Photo

Base jumper Jeff Provenzano leaps off the top of the The Water Club hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. People jumped off tall buildings all around the country Wednesday, but no one got hurt. It was all part of a Leap Day promotion being filmed for an energy drink commercial. In Atlantic City, two parachutists jumped off the top of The Water Club, the Borgataís luxury hotel, and landed safely in the parking lot. Similar jumps were planned in Miami, Detroit, Las Vegas and other cities.

AP Photo

The Waterways, an empty and unsold housing development, is pictured in the village of Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim. During the economic boom, Irish developers attempted to cash in, building tens of thousands of houses. However, poor planning decisions and the global recession have resulted in a large number of estates being abandoned, unoccupied or unfinished.

REUTERS

People hold national flags and torches during an event on the eve of the anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement in Cheonan, 57 miles south of Seoul. The event was held to re-enact the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule in 1919 during which 7,509 Koreans were killed, 15,961 were injured and 46,948 were arrested and put in prison by the Japanese army, which had forcibly occupied the Korean peninsula in 1910-1945, according to the South Korean government.

REUTERS

A policeman uses his baton against students protesting against spending cuts in public education in Barcelona.

REUTERS

Thousands of mourners attend funeral prayers of the passengers killed by gunmen in Gilgit, Pakistan. Gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a convoy of buses in northern Pakistan, ordered selected passengers to get off and then killed 16 of them in a grisly sectarian attack.

AP

An Indian farmer waters his paddy field in Pobitora village, east of Gauhati, India.

AP Photo

Emergency responders work to clear debris in a neighborhood in Harrisburg, Ill., after an early morning tornado. At least six people died in Harrisburg in the pre-dawn tornado.

AP Photo

An illustration provided by Agencia Petrobras shows an image of oil extraction on the pre-salt layers in deep water ocean. Brazilian oil company Petrobras announced the discovery of a new field of oil and gas in ultra deep waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

ZUMAPRESS.com

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner of Australia takes a corner during the last day of a MotoGP pre-season testing session at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur. MotoGP is switching this year to 1,000cc engines, from last year’s 800cc bikes.

AFP/Getty Images

Activists from the Network of Putin Supporters group and pro-Kremlin youth movements give out flowers to subway passengers at the Mayakovskaya metro station in Moscow, in an action they said was aimed at marking the beginning of spring. Despite the opposition protests, Russia’s Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin is still widely expected to easily win the election on March 4.

AFP/Getty Images

A member of the Croatian honor guard jumps over the red carpet before the arrival ceremony for Austria’s President Heinz Fischer in Zagreb, Croatia.

AP Photo

Forensic police cover a damaged police vehicle after a bomb went off near the ruling party offices in Istanbul. A vehicle and a police bus were damaged in the explosion near the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, where one policeman was killed in a bomb attack last year.

AP Photo

President Barack Obama smiles as he greets a crowd in a snowstorm in Manchester, N.H., on his way to speak at Nashua (N.H.) Community College.

AP

Members of the In and Out club, one of London’s oldest private members clubs raise their bowler hats as they prepare to march around St James’ Square to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the club, in London.

REUTERS

Nan Weiping, 41, practices playing a musical instrument made of carrots and scallions in Beijing today. Nan and his brother Nan Weidong, 43, are musicians who specialize in performing with instruments made of vegetables and other groceries. They became famous after participating in many televised talent shows in China.

REUTERS

A passenger looks for his bags after alighting from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at the Mahe port on Seychelles Island. The crippled Costa cruise line, with more than 1,000 people on board, arrived at the capital of Seychelles on Thursday after three days at sea without power. A French tuna fishing boat towed the stricken Costa Allegra towards the port in Victoria, where a line of ambulances, a Red Cross medical team and a fleet of small buses awaited the arrival of the liner.

REUTERS

People travel in a truck under a large advertisement for Tata’s wireless Internet device in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. India’s telecoms ministry has sought “clarifications and directions” from the country’s top court on the timing of a crucial auction of second-generation radio spectrum, the telecoms secretary said, after the court’s order to revoke nearly half of the existing licenses.

REUTERS

New Orleans Hornets small forward Trevor Ariza (1) drives past Toronto Raptors power forward Amir Johnson (15) and center Aaron Gray (34) during the first half of their NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Louisiana.

REUTERS

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks to union workers at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Former President Clinton spoke during the United Auto Workers (UAW) National Community Action Program Legislative Conference.

Getty Images

A man performs on a slackline at a park in Lima. Teenagers are introducing slacklining to Lima’s parks as an activity to develop concentration and balance.

REUTERS

A woman photographs flowers in St James’s Park in London, England. After a recent cold snap, Britain is expected to see a short period of unseasonably mild weather following one of the driest Februarys on record according to the Met Office.

Getty Images

Steeple bells lie on the ground near the rectory of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Ridgeway, Illinois. The 110-year-old church was completely destroyed after it was struck by a tornado early yesterday. According to reports, at least 13 people died as severe weather swept through the middle of the country yesterday.

Getty Images

Miami Heat’s LeBron James stretches before their NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

AP Photo

A man collects water from the Nile at the Juba Port, South Sudan. Many people who have just arrived from the north set up temporary shelter along the riverbanks surrounding the port.

AFP/Getty Images

Models take to the catwalk wearing a creation by Indian designer Shivan and Narresh at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012 in Mumbai, India.

EPA

A man crosses a street during a heavy snowstorm, in Amman, Jordan.

AP Photo

Protestors attend prayers during a rally demanding the trial of Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen.

AP Photo

An aircraft creates a contrail as it flies over a blanket of clouds above Krakow, Poland.

AP Photo

Tammy Jenkins take time from cleaning up to survey the damage to a strip mall in Harrisburg, Ill. A pre-dawn twister flattened entire blocks of homes Wednesday as violent storms ravaged the Midwest and South.

AP Photo

People are silhouetted as they enjoy a sunny and unusually mild afternoon on the edge of Lake Zurich.

REUTERS

Scarlett Stoever, 23, trains at Cirque School in Hollywood, California. Circus professionals train at the school, which also teaches recreational circus classes to the public.

REUTERS

Thousands of shark fins line a street, obstructing traffic in Hong Kong. Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing.

EPA

A model presents a creation during the 2012 Liverpool Fashion Fest, in Mexico City, capital of Mexico.

ZUMAPRESS.com

A surfer walks along Arpoador beach in Rio de Janeiro March 1, 2012. Rio de Janeiro celebrated its 447th birthday on Thursday.

REUTERS

Dancers perform during a press presentation of Crazy Horse’s new show, entitled ‘FEU’ (Fire), by French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, in Paris, France.